Techniques for protected viewing of digital files

ABSTRACT

Unlocking digital content embodied in digital readable form on a digital media carrier includes generating a test based on text that is printed in a physical copy of the digital content, prompting a user to input text that appears on a specific page of the physical copy, evaluating whether the user entered the correct word; and if the word was correct, unlocking the digital content.

BACKGROUND

This invention relates to techniques for unlocking digital content.

Some publishers publish books and other content on computer readablemedia such as compact disks (CD's). Other types and formats of digitalmedia may be used to publish a book or other type of printed publicationin digital form, such as a digital video disk, magnetic disk and thelike. Generally, when content such as books and the like are publishedin a digital format they are published in a bitmap or PDF type format.

Publishers are understandably concerned about publishing content indigital format, in general, and accessible digital format in particular,because material published in digital format such as on a CD is easilyillegally copied and distributed. In digital format, publishers risklosing control of a copyrighted work. Some publishers avoid making someor all of their content available in digital format, or protect thecontent to make the content difficult to copy and to access. Someschemes use encryption that requires a key for instance to unlock the CDto allow a user to retrieve text representation of the content from theCD.

Accordingly, publishers might want to protect content to prevent usersfrom being able to view the content, duplicate the content exactly (e.g.by duplicating the entire CD), printing the content (e.g. printing acopy of the book from the CD), and extracting content, such as text orimages, and using the extracted content by reformatting the extractedcontent, or translating the extracted content or incorporating theextracted content into some other form, such as for searching orindexing.

PDF format has an elaborate set of protections that address some ofthese protection issues. For example, in PDF, printing can be locked, ascan be copying of text, or passwords can be used to lock and unlockcopying and printing. In some applications, PDF uses “back door” methodsthat allow screen readers for the blind to access text, via secretpasswords that publishers share with the manufacturers of the screenreaders.

SUMMARY

Publishers do not necessarily want to publish content in digital format.Even for CD's storing digital content in an image format, e.g., PDFformat, the CD is still easily copied. PDF is not equivalent to bitmapformat, though its content can be optionally protected in various ways.Thus, if a publisher makes a bit-mapped or PDF version of the bookavailable on CD the book can be viewed on the screen. While in PDFformat, a user cannot extract a text file unless the user also has OCRsoftware, the entire CD can nevertheless be copied. Thus, the bookembodied in digital content on a CD can be copied relativelyinexpensively, whereas the physical book is much harder to copy, andcopying of an entire book is less practical.

Even when publishers publish books and the like on CD's publishers arereluctant to distribute the CD's, because users may copy the CD andavoid buying a physical copy of the book. Providing content available indigital formats such as CD's is desirable, because in some ways CD's aremore accessible than a physical copy of a book. CD's are searchable andCD's can store additional content features. However, what restrainsgreater acceptance of publishing books on CD's is that there is no easyway to prevent copying of the CD's.

According to an aspect of the present invention, a method for unlockingdigital content embodied in digital readable form on a digital mediacarrier includes generating a test based on text that is printed in aphysical copy of the digital content, prompting a user to input textthat appears on a specific page of the physical copy, evaluating whetherthe user entered the correct text; and if the text was correct,unlocking the digital content.

The following are embodiments within the scope of the invention.

The text is a word on a page of the book and generating includesselecting the page and the word position on the selected page.Generating includes randomly selecting the page and word position. Thepage is randomly selected and the word position is always the same wordposition. Generating retrieves a combination of page numbers and wordsthat appear on the pages corresponding the page numbers from a list ofpaired page numbers and words. Generating includes prompting the user toenter a printed number on the bottom of a page of the physical copy,generating a number by applying the page number to an algorithm andcomparing the generated page number to the printed number entered by theuser. Each page of the physical copy of the book has a number and themethod further includes reproducing the number for verification againsta number that is entered by the user. The digital content is unlocked toprovide a text based searchable file. The digital content is a bookstored on a digital storage media and the physical copy of the digitalmedia is a printed copy of the book. The text is a pseudo random number.

According to a further aspect of the present invention, a computerprogram product for unlocking digital content embodied in digitalreadable form on a digital media carrier includes instructions togenerate a test based on text that is printed in a physical copy of thedigital content, prompt a user to input text that appears on a specificpage of the physical copy, evaluate whether the user entered the correctword; and if the word was correct, unlock the digital content.

According to a further aspect of the present invention, an apparatusincludes a processor and a computer readable medium storing a computerprogram product for unlocking digital content embodied in digitalreadable form on a digital media carrier, the computer program productcomprises instructions for causing the processor to generate a testbased on text that is printed in a physical copy of the digital content,prompt a user to input text that appears on a specific page of thephysical copy, evaluate whether the user entered the correct word; andif the word was correct, unlock the digital content.

One of the features of the invention is that the number need not beprinted on the CD version of the book, thus requiring the user to havephysical possession of the entire book in order to consistently unlockthe digital content on the CD. Using words on the page allows a user tosee the words in the CD version, once they open the book. Thus, varyingthe word position and page necessarily requires the user to havephysical possession of the book.

The details of one or more embodiments of the invention are set forth inthe accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features,objects, and advantages of the invention will be apparent from thedescription and drawings, and from the claims.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram view of a reading system.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart depicting a technique for unlocking digitalcontent embodied on a computer readable medium.

FIGS. 3-5 are flow charts of techniques useful in the unlockingtechnique of FIG. 2.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a network based system.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart of a network based unlocking technique.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart of a tag based unlocking technique.

FIG. 9 is a diagram depicting details of a reading machine configurationfor the devices in FIG. 1 or FIG. 6.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring now to FIG. 1, a computing device 10, such as a personalcomputer, a personal digital assistant, a specialized computing deviceor a reading machine and so forth, includes a computer system 12. Thecomputer system 12 is generally a personal computer or can alternativelybe another type of computing machine and typically includes a centralprocessor unit (CPU) 14. In addition to the CPU 14, the system includesmain memory, cache memory and bus interface circuits (not shown). Thecomputer system 12 includes a mass storage element 16, here typicallythe hard drive associated with personal computer systems.

The reading system 10 further includes a keyboard 18, a monitor 20, aswell as speakers 22, a sound card (not shown), a pointing device such asa mouse (not shown) and a scanner 24 all coupled to various ports of thecomputer system 10, via appropriate interfaces and software drivers (notshown). The computer system 12 here operates under a Windows XP®Microsoft Corporation operating system. Alternatively, other operatingsystems could be used. The computer system 12 also includes a digitalmedia carrier 17 that is read by the computer system 12 using a drive,e.g., a CD or CD/DVD drive, etc. (not shown).

The digital media carrier 17 can be a compact disk (CD), a DVD, flashmemory card, a web site (FIG. 6), or other medium for storing digitaldata and so forth, and includes digital media unlocking software 30 andlocked digital content 31. The digital media unlocking software 30 willbe described as residing on the CD and will be loaded into the computersystem 12 for execution, however other arrangements are possible, suchas digital media unlocking software 30 being part of anotherapplication, or an operating system and so forth.

The digital media unlocking software 30 controls access to the lockeddigital content 31 stored on the digital media carrier 17. In oneexample, a CD includes a book or other type of printed publication onthe CD as the locked digital content 31, and a user uses the digitalmedia unlocking software 30 to unlock the locked digital content 31.Various levels of access can be provided by unlocking the CD. Unlockingthe CD can include gaining access to a bitmap image of the contents, atext version of the contents, searching features, special enhancements,and so forth. Other uses are for unlocking digital content on theInternet, as described in FIGS. 6 and 7. Thus, in general the digitalmedia unlocking software 30 unlocks the locked digital content whetherthe locked digital content 31 is locally stored such as on a CD orremotely stored such as on a web site on the Internet.

The unlocking software 30 requires that the user have possession of aphysical copy of the book corresponding to the content stored on the CD.In one example, the locked digital content 31 includes a book, and theunlocking software 30 requires that the user has physical possession ofthe book. It is presumed that if the user has a physical copy of thebook, then the user bought the book and it is possible that the CD isnot an unauthorized copy of the CD. That is, the approach presumes thatwhoever is reading the physical book owns the book, and is thereforelikely authorized to be reading that copy of the book on the CD.

Referring to FIG. 2, a process 30 for unlocking digital content from aCD is shown. Initially, the process can start in a variety of ways. Forexample, a CD can be placed in a CD or DVD/CD drive and the like and an“auto play” feature of the CD drive/operating system can attempt to opena file on the CD. Alternatively, a user can attempt to open digitalcontent on CD by selecting a file on the CD with a cursor and mouse, andso forth.

Upon receiving 42 an input to open a file with locked digital content,the process 30 selects 44 a test and/or a test type to send to user. Theprocess 30 generates 46 the test from the selected test type and, ingeneral, displays a user interface screen including the test and a fieldfor the user to enter an answer to the test or the like. The useranswers the test posed by process 30 and the process 30 evaluates 48 theanswer supplied by the user to see if the answer was correct. Differentembodiments 47 a-47 d of tests and evaluations 47 are described in FIGS.3-5, and 8 below.

If the test was answered correctly, the process 30 unlocks 50 thedigital content, e.g., by decrypting the file with the digital contentor supplying a password to open the file. The process 30 renders 52unlocked digital content. For example, the unlocked digital content canprovide a text file, a text based searchable file, active content and soforth. If the test was not answered correctly an error message can begenerated 54 asking the user to try again, and the number of times thatthe error message is generated can be tracked, so that if the errorexceeds a threshold, the software 30 can become disabled.

The tests that the process 30 selects from are based on testing whetherthe user has physical possession of the book. The process 30 selectsfrom a number of tests. In some implementations, the tests are selectedat random whereas in others the tests are selected based on the type ofuser or the use to which the user desires to put the digital content. Inother arrangements, the process 30 does not select a test type, butrather generates a specific test from a test type predefined for theprocess 30. Considerations for selecting the test are to make the testreasonably difficult to defeat and different each time to avoidcheating, but not so difficult such that intended users would not beable to figure out how to use the unlocking process 30.

Effectively, the “test” and the correct answer to the test is stored onthe media carrier 17, and it is either encrypted or otherwise made hardto find. For example, there could be a list of questions stored on theCD along with the correct answers. The test can be built into a specialprogram that is customized and burned onto the CD, or it could be a setof (encrypted) data on the CD that is accessed by a general program. Inthe case of the ISBN test (discussed below), the correct ISBN is savedon the CD in an encrypted form or in some manner that it is hard tofind, so that the number can be compared to the user's answer. Similarconcepts hold for the other cases such as scanning, RFID etc., as willbe discussed below.

Referring to FIG. 3, a test type 47 a involves a user with a readingmachine, e.g., a personal computer or the like including readingsoftware that receives a digital file containing text, and converts thedigital file to synthesized speech and reads the contents aloud to theuser. In reading machine applications (discussed in FIG. 9 below ingreater detail), it is often common to have a scanner available with thereading machine. The test type 47 a using a scanned image, reads the CDand before proceeding, by displaying the digital content or making atext version of the digital content available, asks 62 the user to scana particular page of the physical copy of the book. The user places theselected page on a scanner and scans the page. The scanner produces animage file that is received 64 by the process 47 a. The image filecorresponds to the scanned page. The test type 47 a converts 66 theimage file using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) processing anddetermines 68 whether the received image file sufficiently matches tothe correct page or not.

If the process determines that user has the physical copy of the book,the test type 47 a unlocks 50 (FIG. 2) the CD and makes the digitalcontent available. The process 47 a can proceed to allow the user to usethe digital content for a period of time and after the period of timehas elapsed, run the check again using a different page to make sure theuser still has the book.

One way that the test type 47 a determines if there is a sufficientmatch is to produce a text file of the scanned page that is compared toa stored version of the text file on the CD to determine if the user hasthe book. Alternatively, the OCR can generate a signature that iscompared to a signature generated from the stored file to determinewhether the user had the book. Another way to determines if there is asufficient match is to examine the content using OCR to recognize texton the page and use some heuristic to see if the recognized text matchessufficiently to the text stored in the file on the CD.

Another way to determine if there is a sufficient match would be to useless than a full OCR process to determine that the image page wassufficiently correct. With less than a full OCR processing, the testtype 47 a need not determine whether text was recognized correctly, butmerely whether the image file has a page arrangement, e.g., producedlocations of probable text, that correspond to a stored version of theexpected page arrangement, e.g., regions of probable text. Differentgradations can be used. For instance, less than a full OCR processingcan merely determine the number of lines of text, probable regions oftext vs. images, arrangement of regions of text on the page, and soforth. Correspondence between the image and the stored version expectedneed only be close enough to assure that the user has the correct pageand physical possession of the book.

The OCR need not be of high enough quality to recognize text, but ratherneed only show that the text is more or less arranged in the mannerexpected to be arranged on that page. This does not require a highquality scanner. As an alternative to a scanner, a user could a digitalcamera or a web cam. The unlocking could be based on detecting a certainpattern of color. The color is in some sense easier to detect, but issomewhat more difficult to copy.

Various approaches can be used to lock the digital content on the CD.For example, the digital content can be only partially locked so that auser can put the CD in the drive and the CD will generate thumbnails ofthe pages for display on the user's monitor. When the user wants toaccess one of the pages, the user would have to unlock the page usingthe unlocking software. The thumbnails provide limited access to allowthe user to verify that the user has the correct CD.

Referring to FIG. 4, an alternate test type process 47 b is applicableto a more general case where a publisher wants allow users to unlock thedigital content 31 of the file based on supplying content from thephysical book. Throughout the description we will use text as anexemplary type of content that the user is asked to supply. However, thecontent can be generalized to the various components of the content,e.g., text, graphics, photos, audio clips, video clips and so forth.This test type 47 b need not have a scanner. Test type 47 b generatesthe test by randomly selecting 72 a page and a word position on theselected page. Test type 47 b stores 74 the word and page. Test type 47b sends 76 a user interface instructing the user to open the book andturn to the specific, selected page and instructs the user to type orotherwise input into the computer the word that appears in the selectedword position on the selected, specific page. Test type 47 b willreceive the answer and check 78 to see if the answer was correct, thusproviding or denying access.

The test type 47 b randomly generates 72 the selected page and wordposition each time the test type 47 b is executed. Alternatively, thetest type 47 b can store a list of, e.g., 50 combinations of pagenumbers and words at selected word positions or the same word position,e.g., the first word on the page. The test type 47 b would generate atest based on one of these combinations each time the test type 47 b isexecuted. In addition to a word, phrases, sentences, and so forth, couldalso be used.

Referring to FIG. 5, an alternate test type 47 c includes a printednumber on the bottom on the page generated by an algorithm and printed82 during printing of the physical copy of the book. Each page of thephysical copy of the book would have an apparently random number at,e.g., the bottom of the page. For example, the number can be computablebased on the page number and a pseudorandom number generator using thepage number as the seed. For example, the algorithm encrypts the pagenumber, multiplies the page number by a key and hashes page number/keyor any other technique to obscure the page number so long as thetechnique can be regenerated by the unlocking process 30.

When a user desired to obtain access to the content on the CD, the testtype 47 c instructs 84 the user to open to a page and supply the numberat the bottom of the page to the process. The test type 47 c uses thealgorithm to reproduce 86 the number for verification 88 against thenumber entered by the user.

One of the features of test type 47 c is that the number does not needto be printed on the CD version of the book. Test type 47 c requires theuser to have physical possession of the entire book to unlock thedigital content on the CD consistently. Merely using words on the page,allows a user to see the words in the CD version, once the user opensthe book. Thus, if the same word position is always used, the user couldwrite the, e.g., first word on each page down and thus open the book,without necessarily always having physical possession of the book.

Many methods can be used to secure the number at the bottom of the page.For example, the page number can be run through an e.g., 128-bitencryption algorithm, producing a relatively large encrypted copy of thepage number. That encrypted page number can be truncated with a functionthat selects several of the digits, e.g., the last three digits from thenumber to produce the number that is printed on the bottom of the page.Another method that is simple to use would be to use a hash code toobscure the number.

Another variation that is relatively easy to implement (but alsorelatively easy to defeat) is to require the user to enter the ISBNnumber that is printed on nearly every book that is published. Withoutthe physical book in hand, a user would not know the number. However,this implementation is much easier to cheat, since all that is needed isto write the number down somewhere and save it for later use. Analternative is to have the user enter some item that appears on thecover of the book, since the cover will generally not be included in thedigital content on the CD. Another alternative is to require the user toscan the bar code.

While printing a number on the bottom of the page is a relatively strongtechnique since it would require an unauthorized user to copy the entirebook, publishers would have to incorporate the number in the printingprocess, which they might be reluctant to do. Using the ISBN number doesnot have this disadvantage since the number is already being printed.Another technique would be to imprint a single unique number on eachphysical copy of the book and produce CD's that are tied to thatparticular number.

Referring to FIG. 6, another arrangement 110 for unlocking digitalcontent is with the Internet 118. FIG. 6 shows a client system 112 thataccesses a website hosted on a web server 114 (or equivalent) over theInternet 118. The web server 114 can make available books on-line, forviewing by accessing files containing the books in a database 116, etc.Websites make books available on-line, for limited viewing to see if auser desires to purchase the book. The website stores scanned versionsof books in the database, and stores text files that allow for searchingof the scanned versions of the book. The scanned and text files arelocked and can be unlocked using the process 130 described in FIG. 7.Process 130 is generally stored in storage 119 on server 114. In someembodiments, process 130 communicates with client system 112 via abrowser 113.

Referring to FIG. 7, a process 130 for unlocking digital content on aweb site is shown. A user accesses 132 a website, and searches for abook that is stored electronically on the web site. It is presumed thatthe user has physical possession of a physical copy of the book. Theuser may want to search the physical book and accesses the web site touse a search service that the website provides for users who havephysical possession of the book. The process 130 for unlocking digitalcontent from the web site is initiated typically by the user using avariety of techniques.

The web site receives 134 a message over the Internet requesting to opena file with locked digital content. This message can result from theuser conducting a search, finding electronic content of interest andselecting a link, e.g., a hyperlink, to open the electronic content. Theprocess selects 136 a test and/or a test type to send to user, from thetest type processes 47 a-c described above or process 47 d describedbelow. The process generates 138 the test from the selected test typeand sends 140 the user a web page or the like that includes the test anda field for the user to enter an answer to test. The user answers thetest and sends the answer back to the web site. The process 130evaluates 142 the answer supplied by the user to see if the answer wascorrect. If the test was answered correctly, the process 130 unlocks 144the digital content on the web site, e.g., by decrypting the filestoring the digital content and so forth. The process 130 renders 146digital content in form for use by user or computer under the control ofthe user. If the user answered incorrectly, an error message can bereturned 148.

Unlocked digital content can include a text file, a searchable, index,text file, and special or enhanced features such as an animatedpresentation using a media player, e.g., a Flash media player from(Macromedia, Inc. 600 Townsend Street San Francisco), etc. Unlockingdigital content can also include unlocking audio content on a web site.For example, the website can make an audio book available to users whohave the physical book.

The printed, physical copy of the book is relatively expensive and timeconsuming to copy. Availability of the physical book is easier tocontrol than the availability of digital content. Thus, using a hard tocopy source, such as the printed copy of the book to unlock an easy tocopy digital data such as a digital content on a CD or a website permitsthe publisher of the media to control more effectively the digitalcontent.

Unlike a license key, that often accompanies software; the unlockingprocess 30 or 130 can change every time an attempt is made to access thedigital content, in order to verify that the user still has the copy ofthe book. Typically, the license key is used to unlock software once,during installation of the software on computer, and is in general, thesame each time the license key is used. Thus, making copies of thelicense key and the CD allows for easy, often illegal distributioncopies of the software. Whereas, with the unlocking process, the usermust make an illegal copy of the entire physical book which whileanalogous to making copy of the key, is much more expensive and muchmore involved, than copying the key. Users would be less likely to copythe entire book and more inclined to buy the book.

Referring to FIG. 8, an alternative test type 47 d uses a machinereadable code such as embedded in an RFID tag, bar code, or the like.RFID tags are generally affixed to merchandise for inventory trackingand the like. In general, each RFID tag has a different sequence number,code number, manufacturer's number, etc. RFID tags can be affixed tobooks. In this configuration, the RFID tag is configured at a minimum toidentify the title of the book, and optionally a serial number for thebook.

For client systems configured with RFID readers, the RFID tag unlocksthe content by scanning 162 the tag with the RFID reader and comparing164 the code read from the reader with a code retrieved 166 from a CD.For implementations using the Internet, a user would connect to theInternet and would be instructed to scan the RFID tag. The process wouldread the code from the tag and send the code to the website forverification to unlock extra content on a website like Flashpresentation, searchable file or index as discussed above.

Some libraries use RFID tags for inventory management. If not done soalready, it would be relatively simple for book publishers, particularlyschool book publishers, to add RFID tags with unique codes to books thebooks they print and distribute. Alternatively, in place of an RFID tagand RFID reader, a barcode and bar code reader could be used.

Referring to FIG. 9, a reading machine implementation 170 uses thedigital unlocking process 30 or unlocking process 130 to unlock digitalcontent. In the implementation 170, unlocked digital content is received172 and the implementation determines 174 if the unlocked digitalcontent is in the form of an image. If the unlocked digital content isin the form of an image, the unlocked digital content is operated 176 onby Optical Character Recognition software to produce text. If thecontent is already in a text format, a text file from the unlockeddigital content is sent or text produced from the OCR software is send178 to speech synthesizer software to render 180 audio aloud to theuser. A display renders the digital content as text or image or otherformat, and highlighting is applied to the displayed representation insynchronization with the speech. The highlighting indicium could bebold, color, shading, italics, and so forth applied to the item as theitem is read. The item could be a word, sentence, phrase, paragraph,etc.

Other representations can be stored in the digital media, for examplebitmapped, and so forth. In addition, the digital media can include moreinteractive or active features that are unlocked. For example, thephysical copy of, e.g., a book could include an illustration or pictureon a page, and in the digital media could be an applet or other type ofexecutable code and data that could animate the illustration on adisplay, with visual and audio additions which are not in the physicalcopy of the book.

A number of embodiments of the invention have been described.Nevertheless, it will be understood that various modifications may bemade without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Forexample, while the unlocking software has been described as residing onthe same media as the digital content, it need not be. It could be aprogram or circuit that is executed or operated on a user's computingmachine. In addition, while the content has been described in thecontext of a book, other forms of physical content can be used such asmagazines, newspapers, periodicals and so forth. Accordingly, otherembodiments are within the scope of the claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer program product tangibly stored on ahardware digital media carrier device, the computer program product forunlocking digital content embodied in digital readable form on thehardware digital media carrier device, the computer program productcomprising executable instructions to: load into a computing device fromthe hardware digital media carrier device, digital media unlockingsoftware; receive by the computing system a selection of a file havinglocked content that is stored on the hardware digital media carrierdevice, with the selection received in response to a user insertion ofthe hardware digital media carrier device into the computing device;generate by the loaded digital media unlocking software, in response toreceipt of the selection, a user interface that is rendered on a displaydevice of the computing system populated with a random test based ontext that is printed in a physical copy of the digital content, with thedigital media unlocking software selecting the random test based on arandomly selected page and randomly selected text on the selected page;receive by the loaded digital media unlocking software from the userinterface a user input of text; evaluate by the loaded digital mediaunlocking software whether the user entered the correct text input; andupon receiving the correct text input, unlock by the loaded digitalmedia unlocking software the digital content on the hardware digitalmedia carrier device.
 2. The computer program product of claim 1 whereinthe text is a word on the page of the book and instructions to evaluatecomprise instructions to: compare the user entered text to a storedversion of a text file, corresponding to at least a portion of thephysical copy, which is stored on the hardware digital media carrierdevice, to determine whether the user has entered the correct text. 3.The computer program product of claim 2 wherein instructions to generatecomprise instructions to: retrieve a combination of page numbers andwords that appear on the pages corresponding to the page numbers from alist of paired page numbers and words.
 4. The computer program productof claim 1 wherein instructions to generate further compriseinstructions to: prompt the user to enter a printed number on the bottomof the specific page of the physical copy into the user interface;generate a number by applying the page number to an algorithm; andcompare the generated page number to the printed number entered by theuser.
 5. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein theinstructions to unlock the digital content, provide a text basedsearchable file stored on the hardware digital media carrier device. 6.The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the test and the correctanswer to the test are stored on the hardware digital media carrierdevice in an encrypted form.
 7. The computer program product of claim 6wherein the hardware digital media carrier device stores a list ofquestions along with correct answers to questions in the list ofquestions.
 8. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein theinstructions to receive the selection, receive the selection from a userinput device.
 9. Apparatus, comprising: a processor; a display deviceoperatively coupled to the processor; a port to receive a hardwaredigital media carrier; and a memory device operatively coupled to theprocessor, with the processor executing a computer program product forcausing the processor to: receive a selection of a file having lockeddigital content tangibly stored in digital readable form on a digitalmedia carrier device that is inserted into the apparatus, with theselection received in response to a user insertion of the hardwaredigital media carrier device into the apparatus; load into the memorydevice from the digital media carrier device, digital media unlockingsoftware to unlock the locked digital content upon receiving a correcttext input; generate by the loaded digital media unlocking software, inresponse to receipt of the selection, a user interface that is renderedon the display device of the apparatus, and which is populated with arandom test based on text that is printed in a physical copy of thedigital content, with the digital media unlocking software selecting therandom test based on a randomly selected page and randomly selected texton the selected page; receive by the loaded digital media unlockingsoftware, from the user interface a user input of text; evaluate by theloaded digital media unlocking software, whether the user entered thecorrect text input; and upon receiving the correct text input, unlock bythe loaded digital media unlocking software, the digital content on thedigital media carrier device to become unlocked on the digital mediacarrier device.
 10. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the text is a wordon the page of the book and instructions to evaluate compriseinstructions to: compare the user entered text to a stored version of atext file, corresponding to at least a portion of the physical copy,which is stored on the digital media carrier device to determine whetherthe user has entered the correct text.
 11. The apparatus of claim 9wherein instructions to generate comprise instructions to: prompt theuser to enter a printed number on the bottom of the specific page of thephysical copy; generate a number by applying the page number to analgorithm; and compare the generated page number to the printed numberentered by the user to determine whether there is a match.
 12. Theapparatus of claim 9 wherein the instructions to unlock the digitalcontent, provide a text based searchable file stored on the digitalmedia carrier device.
 13. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein theinstructions to receive the selection, receive the selection from a userinput device.
 14. A computer implemented method executing on a personalcomputing device for unlocking digital content embodied in digitalreadable form on a digital media carrier device inserted in the personalcomputing device, the computer implemented method comprising: receivinga selection of a file having locked digital content tangibly stored indigital readable form on the digital media carrier device inserted intothe personal computing device, with the selection received in responseto a user insertion of the hardware digital media carrier device intothe personal computing device; loading into the personal computingdevice from the digital media carrier device digital media unlockingsoftware to unlock the digital content stored on the digital mediacarrier device upon receiving of a correct text input; generating by thedigital media unlocking software executed on the computer, in responseto receipt of the selection, a user interface that is rendered on thedisplay device of the apparatus, and which is populated with a randomtest based on text that is printed in a physical copy of the digitalcontent, with the random test based on a randomly selected page andrandomly selected text on the selected page; receiving by the digitalmedia unlocking software from the user interface a user input of text;evaluating by the digital media unlocking software executed on thecomputer, whether the user entered the correct text input; and uponreceiving the correct text input, unlocking by the digital mediaunlocking software executed on the computer, the digital content on thedigital media carrier device by supplying an unlocking key to unlock thedigital media on the digital media carrier device.
 15. The computerimplemented method of claim 14 wherein text is a word on the page of thebook and the evaluating comprises: comparing by the personal computingdevice, the user entered text to a stored version of a text file thatcorresponds to at least a portion of the physical copy, with the storedversion stored on the digital media carrier device to determine whetherthe user entered the correct text.
 16. The computer implemented methodof claim 15 wherein generating comprises: retrieving a combination ofpage numbers and words that appear on the pages corresponding to thepage numbers from a list of paired page numbers and words.
 17. Thecomputer implemented method of claim 14 wherein text is a printed numberon a page of the book and generating comprises: prompting the user toenter a printed number on the page of the physical copy; generating anumber by applying the page number to an algorithm; and comparing thegenerated page number to the printed number entered by the user.
 18. Thecomputer implemented method of claim 17 wherein each page of thephysical copy of the book has a number and the method further comprises:reproducing the number for verification against a number that is enteredby the user.
 19. The computer implemented method of claim 14 whereinunlocking the digital content comprises: providing a text basedsearchable file.
 20. The computer implemented method of claim 14 whereinthe digital content is a book stored on the digital media carrier deviceand the physical copy is a printed copy of the book.
 21. The computerimplemented method of claim 14 wherein the text is a pseudo randomnumber.